A World of Fragile Things
by MyBlueBird
Summary: *Contains spoilers for both stories* After successfully escaping the School, the Flock flies north and lands in Portland, Maine. There they meet a sickly boy named Joshua Cunningham, who is somehow connected to them.
1. Chapter 1

I believe even from when I was little I've been able to realize that my life isn't what you'd call 'perfect'. I never saw it as all that bad- I knew my situation was different, but everyone's got their own problems. I grew up most of my life without a dad, and my mother was the type of woman who was always busy, not paying much attention to me, her only son. I was only ten, but I could realize when she wanted me around and when she didn't. But she was still my mother, and I still loved her.

Our house wasn't big, but the interior was nice. I always kept it very clean for her; she hated messes of any kind. I had about two hours after school to straighten up the house and do my homework before she would come home and cook dinner. The same thing happened every day for as long as I could remember- that lonely continuous cycle. I hated it, but I wouldn't tell Mom. I knew how hard she worked every day, and I didn't want to bother her with petty things like that.

Mom had her own problems she had to deal with, anyway. Occasionally I'd find her crying in her room, accidentally forgetting to close and lock her door. I'm sure it happened a lot more than I was aware of. One of the first times I saw her crying I ran up to her and hugged her as tight as I could, and she wouldn't let me go all night. I didn't have to go to school the next day either, and mom didn't go to work. She told me it was okay to take a break every once in a while.

We'd also never really keep pictures up on the walls, but the few that were positioned in frames were just of me and her. I kept a digital camera in my room, and in it I would take pictures of my friends, even though I didn't have many. I'd take the most pictures of my fish. I had tons of them in my aquarium—Cherry Barbs, Goldfish, Glass Catfish; I also had a Red Tailed Black Shark. I had others too, but those were some of my favorites. I loved biology and watching the ecosystem in my fish tank grow. Still to this day it fascinates me. Mom never understood my love for animals. She was allergic to dogs, and I was allergic to cats; she thought it might be nice if I took care of fish, though.

When the weather was nice out- I would _never_ go outside in the winter, it was way too cold- I would sometimes sit on the swing in my backyard. The swing set had certainly seen better days; the metal was rusting and the wood didn't appear to be in all that great of condition either. I was thin and short for my age, so I didn't ever thing it would break. The swing set was connected to a tree house, but I never went inside it. I was actually afraid to. It never looked sturdy, and sometimes when the winds would blow hard I could see the tree house move, and I was afraid if I'd climb up inside it the whole place would come crashing down and kill me. I don't think it was ever finished being built.

Looking back now I don't' see why I liked my swing so much. I didn't really do anything on it besides sit there. I wouldn't let my friends go near it either. My friend Adam told me once that it looked like a 'pathetic broken piece of crap; and that seeing me sitting on the swing was just depressing. I didn't talk to him for a while after that. His comments made me think about the origin of the swing set and tree house. Since it looked so old, I thought maybe there was a family that lived here before I did and it was their swing set. FI that were true, then I was certain there were happy memories in the tree house. I asked my mother about it at dinner one day, figuring I wouldn't learn much else out on my own.

"That swing set's been here for years," she said. "And I didn't know the family who lived here before us, so I couldn't tell you if they had any children."

"But was the swing set here when we moved here?"

"Yes, it was."

But my mother was always a terrible liar. I didn't open my mouth to protest, though.

"I'll be working late tomorrow; Mrs. Blunt promised me she would bring over dinner for you."

"Are you going to be home before I go to bed?" I asked before taking a sip of my water.

"I don't know yet. Finish your dinner, Joshua. Are you eating right at school? You've lost weight."

I took a bite out of my food that was almost completely untouched. "I haven't been eating lunch," I said. "And my pants are getting a little big on me."

Her jade green eyes looked at me sternly. "Why haven't you been eating?"

"It hurts to, and when I eat I wanna throw up…"

She leaned over the table to feel my forehead. "Do you feel sick other than that? Maybe it's just the stomach flu. You don't have a fever."

"Nothing else really hurts," I said truthfully. "And I haven't actually thrown up yet…"

"I'll bring you to the doctor soon. You're still able to go to school?" I nodded. "Good. I'll take care of the dishes tonight. I want you to go upstairs and rest." She stood up, kissed my forehead, and took my plate. I stood up and walked upstairs into my small bedroom and changed my clothes to something more comfortable to sleep in. I didn't want to sleep, but I didn't have much I could do in my room.

My walls were painted dark blue and the whites on the baseboard stood out against the wall and there was a comforter tucked neatly on the bed. My dresser was wide and wasn't very tall, but was able to fit a mirror above it if I wanted it to. My aquarium was near the sliding doors of my closet. There wasn't much room for anything else in there.

My life may not have been perfect, but that was okay. IT was still ordinary, in a sense. I don't think I knew how lucky I was then. Compared to other things, daily life was almost nothing. That night I fell asleep early while listening to the various noises that were emitted from my fish tank. And I dreamt what life would be like if I were a fish. It was defiantly an odd dream.

Disclaimer  
>This fanfiction is not for profit. Trauma Team and Maximum Ride are property of ATLUS and James Patterson.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

"_Get out," a deep voice said to a prisoner. _

_He looked up, but would not stand._

"_You're needed for an operation. Some doctors need to talk to you about it."_

"…_Who will I be operating on?" he said, his voice muffled by the helmet he wore to keep out the cold. The officer picked him up by his hand cuffs, forcing him to stand._

"_You'll see for yourself."_

_Prisoner CR-S01 had been moved to a different facility recently. His living condition remained the same; he was still being kept in a barred metal room with the temperature at zero degrees Celsius. As he walked out of the room being guided by two officers he could feel sweat start to trickle down his face. He wasn't used to the heat. The air felt stiff to him, full of tension. He couldn't see much from inside his helmet, but what he did see looked like dog cages. And upon closer observation, he could see humans inside the crates._

_His red eyes widened almost immediately. Being in the environment he was in during his adolescents, it made it difficult for him to not immediately come to conclusion of human experimentation. But right then he could come up with no other answer as to why the children were in the crates. His muscles tightened. If this was as he thought he wanted absolutely no part in it. The officer made CR-S01 stand still in the center of the room; it gave the children the perfect view of him. He could see a girl who looked African American crawl away from him in her cage. She looked terrified of him, and he wasn't surprised. He turned his head away from her and looked towards the door, waiting for anyone to appear. _

_A scientist wearing a white coat appeared moments later. He was a scruffy looking man, and from what CR-S01 could tell he was about fifty. In his hand he carried five different clipboards and a few file folders stuffed full of papers. He looked at the two officers holding CR-S01's arms behind his back. "This this kid?" he asked, not bothering to actually look at CR-S01. One of the officers nodded._

"_Yes." The same officer gently pushed him a step forward. "Good luck getting him to cooperate. He hardly does anything."_

_CR-S01 said nothing, though he was slightly offended. He wasn't given the ability to do anything; it wasn't like he had much of a _choice_._

_The scientist sent the two officers away and began to look over CR-S01. He stood up straighter as he was being examined and kept his mouth shut until he was spoken to. "When was the last time you operated on a human?" the scientist questioned. _

"_A week ago."_

"_Why were you operating?"_

"_A life needed to be saved."_

_The scientist took a step back and began pacing around the room. "What were they ill with?"_

"_Dilated Cardiomyopathy. I was performing an OLCVR."_

_The scientist walked up to CR-S01 and looked him right into the eyes of his helmet. "But that such an outdated procedure!" he exclaimed, pretending to be surprised. CR-S01 figured the scientist knew the answers to all of the questions he was asking already. "You didn't kill the patient, did you?"_

"_Of course I didn't. He's fine now."_

"_Splendid!" The scientist laughed. It sounded so sadistic and manic it made CR-S01 cringe. "You assistance should be very beneficial here then."_

_Across the room the children in cages were frantically thinking to themselves. What would this man do? Why was he handcuffed? He was a prisoner, no doubt. That's all the more reason to distrust him. The children wondered why he was wearing the helmet. But really, those questions were nothing compared to the biggest one that loomed over their heads._

_Who was the School's next experiment?_

"…_Who's the patient?"_

_The scientist pointed to the youngest boy in the crates. "His number is 'F28246eff' if you need to call him anything."_

_The boy's eyes widened and his muscles very quickly became tense. The oldest female was glaring at both the scientist and CR-S01, while some of the others whispered very quietly to the boy to try and soothe him. None of their efforts had any effect. _

"_Why does he need an operation?" CR-S01 asked- to the children, his voice was too calm, filled with almost no emotion at all._

"_An unidentified disorder of his digestive system. Presumably genetic. This operation would more or less be for… examination. So, you'll operate, no?"_

_CR-S01 starred at the man for a few seconds. With each passing second he felt like the room was getting heavier and heavier; and the scientist began to stare back. His stare quickly turned into a glare. _

"_Answer the question, prisoner." His tone had changed completely and to the children it was nearly demonic._

"…_What will you do to the children if I refuse?" He didn't care about himself. He wanted to keep the children safe._

"_You're in no position to be refusing requests like this, I'm afraid."_

_The children looked p at CR-S01. No one had ever refused to operate on them before. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. They wondered if they would try and kill him for not cooperating- but what if they needed him alive for something? Regardless, the children were filled with the smallest amount of hope possible._

_Now to start planning on a way to escape._

"_I'm not going to experiment on human life. You can't necessarily force me to operate. They're my own two hands that you can't control."_

_The scientist was starting to lose his temper. Almost instantly he dropped what was in his hands and punched the prisoner as hard as he could in the side. He staggered back, unable to clutch his side. The scientist thought that a good beating might teach him a lesson. He grabbed CR-S01 by his shoulders and forced him to stand only before slamming him into one of the grates nearby. As he fell to the ground his head hit the metal forcefully and the bars were dented his helmet flew off his head. _

_All but one of the children could see his face now; he had ebony black hair, skin as white as snow, and blood red eyes that were half closed. His appearance matched his deep voice. For a second, the children thought he could be a vampire; he certainly had the beauty of one. The small bit of blood that he coughed up only helped add to the effect. Before he could stand back up, the scientist swiftly kicked him in his side and was thrown across the room. It was agony, and CR-S01 could do absolutely nothing to defend himself. The best he could for himself was to curl into the smallest ball possible._

_The door to the hallway opened up and another scientist in a white coat appeared. He looked younger and more skittish than the first. Almost instantly the newest scientist dropped his papers and ran to the other, hooking his arms under the others from behind to restrain him. "Are you suicidal!" he yelled, struggling to hold the man back. "He'll kill you! Stop giving him a reason to want to!" _

"_As if he could!" he yelled as he spit in CR-S01's face, who was still on the ground in his ball. "I don't give a damn if he's a murderer! He can't touch us now!"_

"_He doesn't have to! How do you know he won't do to us what he did to everyone at Cumberland College!"_

_CR-S01's eyes narrowed. He remembered waking up to corpses, the whole university covered in blood. Not a single person was left alive except for him. He must have been the person who caused the bioterrorism attack, right? IT couldn't have been anyone else. He felt like he deserved this beating. Those innocent people didn't deserve to die. And somehow, 250 years in a prison cell didn't seem to make up for that. Not like he'd live through his whole sentence anyway._

_The older scientist stopped struggling after a few seconds. "Get him out of here," he said, sending death glares his way. "Just send him back to where ever he came from; I don't want to see his damn face again!" The younger scientist called for the guards who waited outside the hallways immediately. The guards rushed in, picking CR-S01 off the ground and very forcefully started walking him back to his cell. He couldn't walk straight, and he walked with a heavy limp. _

_While muttering things incomprehensible to everyone the eldest scientist picked up the files and clipboards before walking out of the room, slamming the automatic door so forcefully he almost broke it. The younger scientist followed him, only to make sure he wouldn't cause havoc wherever he went. The room was still and the children said nothing, partially out of fear that another angry scientist would come, and partially because they simply had nothing to say._

_Rumors of CR-S01 leaving the School were quickly confirmed, though the children never found out where he went. The dent left in one of their cages was still there, along with a very small bloodstain near the center of the cement ground. _

_Exactly five days later one of the same security guards who was monitoring CR-S01 was making his rounds around the School. He hadn't planned on coming into work today, but his bosses wouldn't allow him to stay home for reasons he was not told about. Pain was the only thing he felt- his head, his chest, his stomach; it made it extremely difficult for him to move around. He couldn't focus as to where he was, and as he entered a room he braced himself on the door and began coughing. The taste in his mouth was horrible, just like iron. He lifted his hand and opened his eyes just slight, and all he could see was blood._

_Just blood. Blood everywhere. He screamed._

_The children looked up, a few covering their ears. They looked horrified; they were able to see more blood than he was. The crimson liquid spilled onto his clothing, dripping out of his ears and onto the white dress shirt he wore. Blood poured out of his nose, into his mouth, and then onto the floor. Seconds later he collapsed and he was bleeding so badly onto the floor that it was spreading to the cages. His eyes stayed open, though they were completely covered with blood, and starred at one of the girls in the cages. It took everything in her not to scream._

"_H-He's dead Max," she said, trembling a bit. "He's n-not thinking anymore…"_

_The girl identified as Max stood up in her cage. "He's got keys on him," she said and looked towards the girl with mocha skin. "Can you get them Nudge?"_

_She nodded and pulled the keys towards her by a magnetic force no one could see. Swiftly she unlocked her own cage and then everyone else's trying to avoid contact with the blood on the floor if at all possible. "W-What happened to him? Do you really think that guy killed him like the scientist said…? I didn't think that-"_

"_Shh," one of the boys said, shutting her up. "It doesn't matter now. If you talk any louder they'll hear you."_

"_Now's our chance," Max said with confidence in her voice. "Let's go while we still have this lucky streak going on."_


	3. Chapter 3

When my mother had taken me to the doctor's a few days later I'd found out pretty quickly that I had gastric ulcers, but I had no idea what those were. The doctor told me that they were like little holes in my stomach, and that's why it hurt so much. Even the thought of that made me cringe. I had no idea what caused it, but they're apparently pretty common. But I was also told I'd need an operation to fix the problem.

That scared me the most. I'd never been operated on before, so I didn't know the first thing about it. This particular type of surgery was called 'endoscopy', which wasn't as invasive as a normal surgery. And I was going to be asleep the whole time, so I wouldn't feel it at all. The surgery was two days from now, and I would get to meet my surgeon, Dr. Tomoe Tachibana, the same day. She sounded really nice from what the nurses said about her.

I got a phone call from one of my favorite adults. Her name's Miss Martinez; technically she's a vet, so I _should_ call her Dr. Martinez, but the first time I met her I was about two, and I never could get out of the habit of just calling her 'Miss'. She was a friend of my dad's, and even after he left she always managed to stay in touch with me. Sometimes I think she cared for me more than my mother. I especially thought that when I was on the phone with her.

"It's been a while," she said with a happy tone, and I could visualize her smiling. "How are you?"

"E-Eh…" I tried not to stutter, but I'm really not all that great at lying. "I'm not doing as good as I should. I have to get an operation soon…"

"What happened?" Her tone changed immediately. "Why do you need an operation?"

"It's not a big one…!" I said, not yelling, just sounding nervous. "But I found out Monday that I have ulcers in my stomach, so I have to get them taken care of."

"When's the operation?"

"This Friday," I said. I started getting quiet. "…I don't think Mom will be there with me, she's real busy all week…"

"That's inexcusable," she said harshly. "You're her son, I don't care how busy she is; she should be there for you Joshua."

Miss Martinez never did like my Mom, and I really had no idea why. I guess their personalities were just too different. They would keep all communications to a minimum and whenever she'd come visit she would stay in a hotel despite me always asking her to stay. She'd give me her phone numbers and come visit me every day she was in town though, and she always made sure I wasn't lonely.

"Joshua?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll be there. I don't want you there by yourself."

"B-But miss Martinez!" I protested, much louder now. "That's too much, you work too, and Ella-"

"I don't want you there by yourself; I can make up work, it's no trouble at all. And Ella will be with her father this weekend."

"B-But…"

"No 'buts', I'm coming to Portland."

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, but then quietly whispered into the phone "Thank you."

Despite my somewhat poor health I decided I'd sit outside and read. I had to read this book as a summer reading project, but it wasn't interesting and it hardly kept my attention. I honestly had a hard time reading or focusing on anything though- It'd give me a headache that'd last for hours. I told Mom about it once but she said headaches ran in the family and that I shouldn't make such a big deal out of it. So I didn't.

It wasn't windy, but I could hear leaves rustling around behind me and then abruptly stopping. I set my book down in the grass and turned around on the swing, but I couldn't find anything that interested me. As soon as I leaned down to pick my book up again I heard the leaves rustling again. I stood up instead and walked behind the tree house to investigate. At first I didn't find much, but I stayed there to enjoy the scenery. The ground was covered with leaves and twigs that were already dead, and I could see mold and various mushrooms starting to pop up in random places too.

But what stood out the most to me was a large tan feather that had fallen to the ground. It looked too big to belong to any birds nearby, but none the less it was beautiful. I picked it up extremely carefully by the shaft; I didn't' want to disturb or harm the rest of it in any way. It made me smile softly looking at it, and destroying it would've just been horrible.

My daze was broken when I heard a twig break. As I looked p it became obvious that someone was hiding behind the trees, and as soon as a second twig snapped the person fell to the ground. Taking a good look at him I could see that he was a good two feet taller than me with reddish blonde hair and skin as pale as mine. I tried not to stare, but he was a stranger in my backyard; it was incredibly difficult _not_ to. He raised an arm to rub his head and groaned irritably, and my whole body tensed.

Against my better judgment I took a step closer to him. His head snapped in my direction immediately and he stood up almost as fast. "Are you alright…" I asked. My voice was excessively timid and quiet; my mother would kill me if she found out about this. The man looked almost as tense as me.

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

"But you hit your head-"

"No, I didn't! You didn't see anything. I'm just a figure of your imagination, nothing more."

"E-Eh… No, I'm pretty sure you're not…"

"It only appears that way because your brain's messin' up your eyesight."

"It is not! There's nothing wrong with my brain or my eyes!"

If anything was wrong with anyone it was him, creeping around my backyard and whatnot. He didn't even bother looking into my eyes when I talked, which just seemed rude.

"Why don't you just go back to home and go to bed?"

"It's the middle of the day!"

"You sound young enough to take naps."

I was getting unbelievably irritated. My eye even twitched a bit.

"I'm _not_ that small!"

He laughed. It sounded lighthearted, but somehow it only made me more irritable. I kept my mouth shut- I didn't want to yell again. I realized my stomach was hurting and I wondered how long it had been bothering me. Well, at least this guy distracted me for a little while. It was better than having to sit though the pain on the swing. I didn't think he'd try to do anything to me, despite how creepy he originally came off.

"What's your name?" I asked him. He hesitated his reply.

"Jeff."

"Alright," I said. He didn't ask for mine. "…Is this your feather?" I asked, holding it up to him. I had no right to keep it if it was his.

"Eh, yeah. It's mine," he said as he took the feather from my hands.

"Hey, watch it!" I shouted. "Don't break it!"

"I won't!"

I took a step back and coughed into my hand. My other arm was wrapped around my stomach- that's where the pain was radiating from. The more I coughed the more it hurt, and I could taste blood coming from the back out my throat. My eyes widened; I'd never coughed up blood before. I was so scared I thought I might faint. No one told me that I could cough up blood because of ulcers. If that was even what the blood was from. As my coughing calmed down and I was able to breathe again I immediately hid my hand from Jeff. I could see for a second another head peaking out behind a tree; he looked about my age, just a lot taller. The second my eyes hit his he hid again.

A clasp of thunder made me jump and nearly shriek. I looked up at the sky and saw tons of storm clouds. When in the world did that happen? I don't even know how long I had been outside. Almost as soon as I looked up raindrops made their way towards the ground and instantly began soaking my hair and clothes. The blood ran off my hand, and for that I was thankful, because now no one else could see it. "Hey," I said, turning to Jeff. "We'll catch colds if we stay out too long!"

"I'll be fine—"

I started running towards my house. "Come on, it isn't safe to stand under trees when there's lightning out, don't you know that? You can bring your friends too!"

For a minute there I thought he wouldn't move. But he did, hesitantly, and wasn't running like I was. Five others appeared behind him. It was pretty easy to tell none of them wanted to follow me. Shouldn't it be the other way around? That was also kind of when I realized my mother would completely disown me for inviting strangers into the house. But quite frankly, I didn't care.

The patio near the door offered very little protection from the rain, but there was a small umbrella they could stand under. I opened the glass door and walked inside, but they stayed under the umbrella without saying a word to each other. I only closed the screen door, which did allow some water to make its way inside. I'd clean that up later. I went to give them towels, but by the time I came back from the linen closet the rain was coming down so hard a towel wouldn't be any use. I jumped again after hearing thunder- storms in general don't really bother me, but I hated being alone for them. The power would go out a lot, and I'd often be left alone in the dark.

"Please, come on inside, it's really okay-!"

The second the smallest girl walked inside everyone else followed. It seemed reversed too- I would have imagined one of the oldest would come in first. Right? But I didn't think anything else of it, and the thought left my mind pretty quickly. The towels I gave them were beige- I didn't want to ruin Mom's good towels with the dirt they were covered in. I tried not to stare at them, but as I was looking them down I saw a little black terrier sort of hiding behind one of their legs. He was adorable- made me wish I could have a dog, too. He stayed away from me.

"I might have some dry clothes you could wear- I know it's not much, but dry clothes are much more comfortable than wet ones, and I could dry yours for you," I said.

"We wouldn't fit into your clothes," one of the girls said. I had to look up to talk to her.

"Well, you might be able to fit into some of Mom's clothes," I said. "I'll go find something."

Without giving them a chance to deny anything I ran upstairs and found a laundry basket of clothes I'd folded this morning. It took me a little longer than expected, but I found them clothes.

"There's a bathroom upstairs, and then my room and my Mom's room next to it," I said as I handed them the clothes. "And then I can get the dryer started for you." My smile was as cheerful as I could manage right now.

"Thank you…"

"Joshua~"

"Then, thanks Joshua."


	4. Chapter 4

I really have no excuses for why it's been 13 months since I've updated; I guess to be completely honest I've just lost any and all will to write this. But I'm back on track now and I can promise you an update at least once or twice a month! (I would say once a week, but I'm a pretty busy person and I don't want to make promises I can't keep). I thank you all for following along to my story if you still are there to read it, and I hope you come back for many more chapters to come!

Even though I was smiling and happy to be of any help to them we all could tell the air was really awkward and tense. The boy who looked only a little bit older than me tossed a towel in my direction. "Aren't you going to dry yourself off too?"

I knew my clothes were wet but it didn't really occur to me to change my clothes. I laughed nervously and started drying my hair- as soon as I got some of the rain out of my hair it started to fluff up twice it's size. He stared, watching my hair get all fluffy, but didn't say anything about it. It's hair was straight but stuck up and a very pale shade of blond. I was a little jealous, I always wished my hair could be straight. He looked a lot like the youngest girl. She had really pretty hair too, and they both had really big blue eyes.

I ran up to my room and closed my door to change my clothes. I kept trying to get as much water out of my hair as I could, hoping that it wouldn't take hours to dry like it did when I got out of my baths. I bundled myself up in a sweatshirt, sweatpants and socks, realizing was a little cold from being wet so long.

When I opened the door the boy was waiting in the hall for me. "How come you let us come inside?" he asked, staring at me in the eyes.

I had to think about it for a second. "W-Well, it seemed like the right thing to do."

He raised his eyebrows. "Letting strangers in your house when you're home alone is a_good_thing?"

"No, but-"

"What would you do if we tried to kill you?"

I should've been pretty terrified, but for whatever reason I wasn't. He didn't look scary, and he only looked a little older than me. If anyone seemed like they could kill me it would be the three older ones. "But... you won't, right? You don't look like you would." He shrugged.

"I wont', I'm just sayin'."

I smiled at him. "Hey, how come you were in my backyard earlier?"

He seemed to tense up and he looked a littlenervous. "We, eh... were just exploring..."

I tried to pretend like I didn't notice hisnervousness. "Really? Was it any fun? ... I don't think I've ever gone exploring."

"Seriously?" he said, looking surprised. "That's... kind of sad, actually."

"Well...! I wouldn't want to go exploring by myself...!"

"Then you should do it sometime with your friends!"

I shrugged. "They wouldn't want to do that with me."

"Well then they aren't very good friends, are they?" He sat there and thought for a minute. "Well, maybe one day you can go exploring with me. Maybe."

My eyes lit up; I didn't even think he liked me. I wondered if this would make us friends. I smiled; "That'd be really fun!" He smiled too.

I went into my room and motioned for him to follow, and while I sat down on the edge of my bed he went straight to my fish tank. He looked reallyfascinated, but then surprised. He looked over at me, eyes wide. "Did you say something...?" he asked.

"No...?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "Did you hear something?"

He nodded quickly. "Uh-huh..."

"Maybe it was someone downstairs...?"

"No, it wasn't."

Hearing all this was a little creepy. Every once and a while my mom would watch TV shows about ghosts while she thought I was asleep and I would freak out and have nightmares about there being ghosts in my house. I'd thought my house was haunted on more than one occasion. But he turned his attention quickly back to my fish, and stared at them closely. I tried to shake the thought of ghosts away.

"Would you like to feed them...?" I asked.

"Eh... yeah, they'd like that."

I got out my jar of fish food and opened up the lid and I showed him how much to give them. He gave just a little more than I normally would, but the fish seemed happy and ate all of their food quickly.

"Do you like fish too?" He nodded without seeming to pay much attention to me. "I really love them, I'm allergic to cats and my mom is allergic to dogs so I can't keep either in the house." He looked towards me. "O-Oh, but I think your dog will be okay...! My mom doesn't get home for a while, so I don't think she'll notice."

"We can be gone as soon as the rain stops. Or when your mom gets here. Whichever comes first."

I nodded slight to show him I understood. "Are you going to go back exploring later?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure where though. Max would know-"

"Who?"

"Oh, uh... Max is the tall girl with brown eyes. She usually decides where we go. We might go to Arizona though."

My eyes lit up and I smiled. "Really? I'd love to go there to visit one day. I've got friends there, but I've never been. It'll be a long trip though, I'm sure!"

He nodded a bit and smiled at me. "Yeah, it is. I've been there a few times. I've got friends there too."

"Are your parents going too?"

I don't know why but he quickly looked upset and looked away from me. "No," he said. "I'm not."

"I-I'm sorry..." I said. "I didn't know that was a bad subject..."

He shrugged a little and looked up at me again. "Don't be. It's not your fault."

I decided that I should probably change the subject. "Hey, what's your name?"

He waited for a minute, almost like he was trying to remember it. "My friends call me Gazzy; you can call me that too."

"That's a pretty cool name...!" He laughed at that.

"Yeah, it is a pretty great name!"

There was another clasp of thunder and I jumped and he laughed a little harder. "Are you afraid of a little bit of thunder?"

"N-No! I'm not!" I could feel my cheeks heating up from beingembarrassed.

"Oh, I think you might be...!" he said, to tease me.

"You don't need to make fun of me!"

"I'm not, I'm not! You're just really skittish."

"I just don't like being alone during storms..." I said, and looked down at my lap.

"You're not alone right now, I'm here!" I looked up at him and smiled a little bit, and seeing that he patted my head. Well really just my hair, he didn't actually touch my head. He was smiling at me now his stomach growled, and he looked just as embarrassed as I did.

"I can get you something to eat!" I said quickly, jumping up off of my bed. "I don't know how to cook much but I can make sandwiches and we have a ton of fruit!"

"Won't your mom get mad at you if you give us a lot of food?"

"Well maybe a little, but it's okay, and besides I won't eat anything so _that_ much food won't be gone." He started following me down the stairs and some of the other people started looking at me. I hurried into the kitchen and started getting out fruits and bread and peanut butter, not really know what they'd want. I stuck my head out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Do you want any sandwiches? Or fruit?"

Everyone seemed to stare at Gazzy as soon as I started talking, but he was already eating away at a sandwich I made him.

"...Sure, I'll take one," one of the girls said and smiled at me.

"That's Nudge," Gazzy told me, and then started telling me everyone else's names.

I gave a sandwich to Nudge while I kept on smiling. I started making sandwiches for everyone (actually, they all ate two) and I went through a full loaf of bread. I nibbled away at a banana and all the food that I got out they ate. I started to wonder when the last time they had food was. Just as Nudge was about to take the last apple, she looked at me and asked, "Oh, do you want this? I won't eat it if you do, all you've eaten is that banana; are you hungry or-"

"You can have it," I said, feeling a little bad that Iinterruptedher. "I'll eat dinner when my mom comes home, but I'm not that hungry anyway." She took the apple after saying a quick 'thanks'.

It was true that I wasn't hungry, but my stomach hurt too. I didn't want them to know that because I didn't want them to worry about me (though I think that really only Gazzy would, or maybe Nudge, she seemed nice too). I was never hungry when my tummy hurt and I never ate when it did. Even the banana I was eating hurt it, but I tried to make sure they couldn't tell. I felt like I needed to cough but I tried not to in front of them. Angel kept giving me strange looks, and I think she knew I didn't feel well.

I jumped when out of nowhere their dog- Total- started barking. To be honest I forgot he was there for a while, and Angel started giving him some of the food she hadn't gotten to yet. I wasn't sure what to feed dogs, so I just let Angel feed him.

And then when there was another strike of thunder I jumped again. Gazzy laughed a little to himself. "See, you really are skittish!" and I stuck my tongue out at him.

Iggy started to tense up a little bit once everybody was done eating. "I think your mom's home," he said, and I looked at the time- it had gotten a lot later than I thought it did. I stood up quickly;

"You can go on up to my bedroom really fast, she wont know you're there!" And by the time that I could hear her car door shut every one of them had bolted up to my room to hide.

I tried to clean up the mess as soon as I could, but when she walked in the room I looked horribly guilty and she noticed as soon as she looked at me. "Joshua? What in the world are you doing?"

I hid all the banana peels and apple cores behind my back and looked at her, but I couldn't look at her face."I-I was just cleaning up...!" I said, and she started to look more suspicious of me and looked behind my back.

"Did you have friends over? You know you aren't supposed to do that when I'm home." She set her purse down and started to clean up everything that I hadn't gotten. She always liked the house to be super clean.

"I know, but it's just 'cause the storm started and I didn't want them to get sick, but they're gone now."

She nodded. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm okay," I said quickly. I didn't want to tell her about coughing up blood.

"Your belly hasn't been hurting?"

"Only a little, it's not too bad..."

I don't think she believed me. "Are you hungry enough for dinner?" I shook my head no.

"How about..." she said, bending over a little so we were face to face. "I take tomorrow off work and spend the day with you, would you like that?"

I started to wonder when Miss Martinez would come- because today was Wednesday, and my Operation was Friday, and I didn't want there to be conflict between them. I nodded a little. "If you want to," I said. "But... Well Miss Martinez said she was gonna come and be with me when I had my operation since you have to be at work for your meeting, and I don't know when she's gonna be here."

"I see..." she said, looking kind of irritated. "Well, I'm glad she'll be there for you. I didn't want you to be alone."

I knew she didn't want me to be alone; my mom would've been there if she didn't have to be at a meeting at work. It was a really important one too.

"Will you still come afterwards?"

"Of course, I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise."

She smiled at me, and wrapped my arms around her and hugged her for a long time. I was really scared about the operation, even though it wasn't supposed to be a big deal. I was really happy that both Miss Martinez and my mom could come, and I didn't think they would fight a whole lot while I was in the hospital.

"I'm going to start dinner- just something light- how about you go upstairs and do some more of your summer reading?"

My eyes widened and fear struck through me as soon as she mentioned my book. I forgot that I left it outside, but even if I went to go get it I couldn't read it because the book would've just been ruined. "I-I think I might've left it outside..." I said, looking away from my mom.

She sighed and stood up. "I'll pick you up another one from the book store this weekend." She went into the kitchen, and I ran off to my room before she could say anything else about it or really notice all the food that was gone from the counter.

I stopped at the end of the hallway when I heard everyone's voices in my room. They were trying to be quiet, but I could still hear them, even through the door.

_"I'm telling you Max, I can hear what they're saying!"_

_"Can you hear what I'm thinking?" _I hadn't heard that voice before, and I started to get a little freaked out as to who else might be in my room.

_"W-Well, no, but I can definitely hear the fish. They really don't like me, I don't know why-"_

_"Gazzy, we need to get out of here."_

_"But Fang-"_

_"He's right, Gazzy. We really do need to get out of here."_

_"Can't we stay just a little longer, Max?"_

_"It'll just get harder for you to leave, it'd be best if we left without him knowing."_

_"...Can we at least come back and visit sometime?...I thought we could've been friends..."_

_"I can't promise anything, but we can still try."_

I ran into my room to try and see if I could stop them but they had already left the room when I got there. My window was open and rain was coming into my room, but when I looked outside I couldn't see anyone out there. I got really upset that they left so suddenly, but... I didn't think I was supposed to hear any of that. I couldn't make much sense out of it anyway.

When I sat down on my bed I noticed the feather that Iggy said was his was laying on my desk. I picked it up and brought it over to me and I started to look it over closer than I could outside. It really was a beautiful feather, and for some reason I felt like it was really special. I decided to keep it on my nightstand, and it was the last thing I looked at when I fell asleep that night.


	5. Chapter 5

Miss Martinez came over in the afternoon on Thursday. My mom had taken the whole day off work (but she told me that she would have to be at work on Saturday because of it) to be with me, and we spent the whole day watching my favorite movies. Miss Martinez had called my mom before she actually came over, and they had a pretty long talk over the phone. My mom told me to pack a bag, so I assumed that I would get to stay with Miss Martinez overnight. I didn't mind it; my operation was pretty early in the morning anyway.

My mom and Miss Martinez didn't talk much face to face. My mom kissed my cheek and I hugged her before I left. In the car we didn't talk a whole lot, but when we did she was asking me simple questions, like how I was feeling and if I had eaten or not. I told her I hadn't eaten but that I wasn't hungry and she seemed okay with that. She did stop at a drive-thru to get herself something to eat though; she got herself a big salad with water.

When we got to her hotel room she helped me get situated. We shared a bed, and while I would've been embarrassed if I had to tell my friends I was okay with it then. She could tell I was scared and she could tell I was upset and she tried to make me feel as good as I possibly could. We both sat down on huge bed and when she ate her salad we talked.

"So, Joshua," she said. "Has anything else happened recently? I haven't seen you since last October."

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, lot's has happened actually," I said.

"How'd the last couple of weeks of school go?"

Before I called her on Wednesday I hadn't talked to her or anything since my birthday (which was the April 1st). "School was good," I said. "I have to read a book over the summer, but I kind of ruined the one they gave me already."

She lifted her eyebrows curiously, but didn't ask how I ruined it. "Do you need to get a new one? You'll be in the hospital for a few days, you'll have some free time; I know how much you love to read."

"N-No no, I'm okay, you don't need to...!" She took a drink of her water.

"I don't mind buying you a book Joshua-"

"I-I don't think I'd read it anyway... I'm having a hard time focusing on it."

She nodded a little in understanding. "Well, it'll be easier to get it over with instead of waiting until the end of summer."

"I know..."

"But you can do whatever you want; you don't need to read when you're there if you don't want to." She smiled at me and I smiled back at her.

"I haven't seen a whole lot of my friends since school let out, but I made some new ones yesterday; they were really nice."

Since they showed up in such a weird way I wasn't sure whether or not I should tell Miss Martinez about it. I didn't think she would tell my mom, but she always worried a lot about me and probably wouldn't have liked the idea either. At the same time I didn't want to lie to her. I decided that I probably wouldn't see Gazzy or Nudge and all of them again anytime soon, and I figured Miss Martinez wouldn't ever meet them either.

"Hm... Promise you'll keep it a secret?" She lifted her eyebrows again and nodded, but not before asking,

"You weren't doing anything you weren't supposed to, were you?"

I paused for a minute. "Well... kind of, but everything was okay! I was sitting on my swing outside reading and I kept hearing stuff behind me in the woods, and when I went to go check it out there were these people hiding from me- and well, it started raining and thundering so I let them inside until the rain stopped."

I didn't want to tell her about the feather or the fact that I heard Gazzy say he could talk to fish. I wasn't sure what to make of that. I didn't think it was even possible to talk to fish- but he was a little strange, so maybe he could've. I'd never met anyone like him before. It would've been really cool if he could talk to fish. I still hadn't figured out who the other voice in my room was, even though I'd thought about it a lot. Even then there was the feather. It was strange too. Even though it was strange it was still very beautiful. It was really special, and it reminded me of my new friends. They seemed to know it was special too, so I was surprised when they left it at my house.

But Miss Martinez looked more interested and curious than she looked upset. "How long did they stay?" She asked. "These people didn't do anything to hurt you did they? Did your mother know?"

I shook my head no. "No, she didn't... but they didn't hurt me either. They left pretty soon after my mom got home."

She nodded and looked down at her lap, then back at me. "Well that was a very nice thing you did for them," she said. "But you can't necessarily let just anyone into your house when it starts to rain."

I looked down, a little ashamed, thinking she was upset with me. "I-I know... but they only looked a little older than me, and they looked hungry and scared and I didn't want anything to happen to them once the thunder started..."

She put her salad down and then hugged me really tightly. "You've got a really big heart, Joshua," she said, and then kissed the side of my head for a while. I was a little confused, but curled up in her lap. I didn't really want to do anything- I was really tired because I stayed up all night thinking about how tomorrow would go and how everyone else was doing. She could tell I was tired, and so she had me go take a bath and get ready for bed. It was early, but I had to wake up really early, so I did what I was told and fell asleep pretty fast.

I don't really remember anything right before or right after my operation, other than the fact that Dr. Tachibana was really nice to me and that I didn't feel all that better afterwards. My throat felt really weird and my tummy still hurt- but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't manage. I was told that I would feel weird for a couple hours anyway, and because the doctors gave me lots of medicine, I thought it would be okay.

Just like she said Miss Martinez was at my bedside when I woke up. She bought me some flowers and put them on the small table in the corner of the room. They were really pretty and they were all kinds of different colors. I brought that feather with me—she asked me where I got it and I told her that I got it from my friends without giving her an explination. But anyway, that feather was put next to the flowers. So I couldn't really touch it either.

My mom came to see me around 6—I was a little surprised; she usually got out of work at 5:30 and it took an hour for her to get home. She brought me in tons of balloons and flowers and gave me lots of hugs and kisses. Miss Martinez excused herself from my room and stayed away for a while. I really wished Miss Martinez and my mom could get along better, but if they could deal with each other when they weren't in the same room that was okay too.

Mom had brought me in a ton of stuff to do, like a new summer reading book, some video games, cards, and a brand new teddy bear. She also brought me lots of pillows and blankets from home and being at the hospital didn't seem so scary anymore. It wasn't like my bed at home, but it was close. Even the walls in the room had cute animals and a jungle scene on one of the walls.

I knew my mom couldn't stay long because she had to work again in the morning but she did stay really late. She left around 10pm (supposedly); I'd already fallen asleep. I didn't sleep that well, and I woke up in the middle of the night. I didn't see what time it was because the lights were off, but I could see Miss Martinez was asleep in the chair that was next to my bed. My tummy hurt really bad, and I had a really hard time falling back asleep. I didn't want to wake up Miss Martinez but after a couple hours the pain made it so that even if I tried _really_ hard I couldn't stop thinking about it. I pressed the button for the nurse and when I told her what was wrong she gave me more pain medicine. I fell asleep without any more problems.

_Though the Flock couldn't fly while it continued to storm it had ended in the middle of the night and in flying to Arizona they hadn't run into any problems. It was especially surprising to them that they hadn't run into anyone from the school—no flyboys, no erasers, nothing. Even the weather seemed to be fine. It was a very long flight with several stops for food along the way. Gazzy remained quiet for most of the flight, not wanting to speak to anyone._

"_Come on Gazzy, cheer up…" Nudge said while they sat down eating in a McDonalds. He shrugged and took a bite out of one of his double cheese burgers._

"_Something was wrong with him, I could tell," he said. "Wasn't he coughing up blood…?"_

"'_Sure sounded like it," Iggy said. Angel knew he was coughing up blood and that he was having an operation, but she wasn't sure she wanted to say it. She knew Gazzy wouldn't take it very well._

_Nudge put down her milkshake and looked down at her lap. "Kinda like that Security Guard…"_

_Max put her arm around her to offer comfort. "…We probably shouldn't be thinking a whole lot about that. It'll depress us."_

_Nudge nodded in response. "I know, Max, but—"_

_Though it had been quite a while sense the incident, the image was permanently burned into their minds. At first they couldn't bring themselves to speak about it, and when they recovered from their initial shock they had met Joshua. He offered as a pretty good distraction for them._

"_How much longer do we have until we get to your mom's house, Max?" Angel asked after a moment, holding onto Celeste and feeding Total fries in the book bag he hid in. She thought for a minute._

"_Maybe three… four more hours? We're kind of close now."_

_Angel nodded._

_None of the Flock was sure what to really do next. They didn't have any leads, and hoped Dr. Martinez might be able to help guide them. And if not, she could offer a place to find comfort._

_With their past experiences of running into Erasers at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants the Flock had left as quickly as they could. They spread their wings and flew westward, keeping quiet thought the flight. It was a beautiful day; even in Arizona the weather was comfortably warm with no rain and little clouds. When they saw grass it was a vibrant shade of green, and as they grew closer to urban areas they saw beautiful gardens and flower patches. Butterflies and birds fluttered throughout the skies and bumblebees carried nectar to their hives._

_Landing in the woods and hiding their wings the Flock made their way towards the familiar house. Only one light was on in the house and a car engine roared in the driveway. Seeing that the back door was locked, the Flock made their way to the front of the house. _

"_Max!" Ella exclaimed and happily hugged her. Max smiled and hugged her back. "Come over here!" The Flock came to her quickly and Max looked around for Dr. Martinez. "Are you looking for Mom? You actually just missed her. I'm spending a few weeks with my dad; she had to go to Maine for a friend. I just came back because I forgot some things. _

_Iggy, already tired and a bit irritable from the flight, groaned loudly. "Are you _serious_?!" he said, and caused Ella to jump. _

"_W-Well, yeah… we've got this friend up there who's having an operation today—well it's probably already over—and sense his mom couldn't be there she wanted to be… I don't know him very well but Mom's really close to him. She used to be really close to his dad."_

_Gazzy stared at Iggy, watching his reaction grow from being irritated to just plain angry. Fang sighed, both at Iggy and because of his own feelings, and watched Iggy sit in the middle of the street. Nudge groaned and put her head on Max's shoulder. _

"_That would've been nice to know sooner," Total exclaimed. "We were literally just there."_

"_Do we have to start heading back?" Nudge complained. "Max I'm tired, and hungry, can't we just wait a little while, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaassseeee?"_

_Angel chimed in. "Yeah, Max, can't we stay for a little bit…?"_

_An angry horn was honked- Iggy was in the way of a car trying to pass. "Iggy, get out of the street!" Max yelled, and Fang hurried over and attempted to (unsuccessfully) drag him away. "_Iggy!" _The car continued to angrily honk at him._

"_I'm not leaving until you tell me we'll stay!"_

"_Fine, fine, just get out of the freakin' road!"_

_As soon as she told him that he got up and ran off the road. The driver had his window down and yelled profanity at them, and Angel could tell Iggy was tempted to yell them all back._

_Ella got her house keys out of the small purse she carried on her shoulder. She held the keys out to Max and said, "There's lots of food in the kitchen, you can stay here as long as you need to—I'll call Mom and tell her you'll be coming soon."_

_Max smiled. "Thanks."_

_The car door opened from the driver's side and Ella's father said, "We need to go," and then reclosed the door. He seemed relatively unconcerned and uninterested at the situation at hand. _

"_What part of Maine is she in?" Fang asked before anyone forgot to ask._

"_Portland, it's in the southern part of the state. It'd probably be easier to find her at the hospital—it's Resurgam First Care, and she's visiting Joshua Cunningham."_

_While the rest of Flock seemed uneasy about having to go to a hospital, Gazzy's eyes perked up."His name's Joshua?" he asked._

"_It's probably not him—" Fang said._

"_What's he look like?"_

"_Well," she began. "I haven't seen him in a really long time but his eyes are gold and he has really fluffy brown hair- and he's always been really skinny and kind of short. He's 10, but he looks younger than that. At least I think he does. He doesn't look a thing like his mother."_

_Now certain that the Joshua Ella talked about was the one he had met, Gazzy continued on with his questions. Ella sat down in the car, but left the door open to finish talking. "How come he has to have an operation?..." he asked. "I mean we met him a few days ago, and he was kinda sick, but an operation?"_

"_I guess I should know by now how small the world really is. But he's got some pretty bad stomach ulcers—" and when he looked confused she said, "You'll have to look it up, I'll see you guys later!" _

_Most of the flock waved goodbye, and Angel hugged Gazzy comfortingly. Max unlocked the house's front door and let them all inside. Immediately the smell of chocolate chip cookies ws presand, and while Gazzy was still quite upset Nudge got him a cookie and he felt a little bit better instantly. Fang sat down and took his laptop out of his bookbag and looked up the definition of stomach ulcers for Gazzy and Angel winced when she heard Fang read what it's definition was._

"_Well, what is it...?"_

"…_It's when your stomach acid eats away at your stomach. Very painfully. I guess that explains the blood."_

_Gazzy winced and put his head down on a pillow. He felt nauseated just hearing about it, and felt horrible that his new friend had to deal with it. Max rubbed his back, hoping to help cheer him up. "We can go back and see him, he'll be okay…"_

_Gazzy nodded into the pillow._

"_We don't _all_ have to go into the hospital do we Max?" She shook her head no. _

"_If you don't want to go in there you don't have to." She thought for a moment. "I mean I'll have to go in there to find my mom, I'm sure… But you guys can stay outside."_

"_They don't let dogs in hospitals anyway," Total told them._

_Iggy came out of the kitchen and felt around the living room with a cookie in his mouth, and sat down in the same recliner Fang was in. He was partially on his lap, and Fang put his laptop on Iggy's knees. "And what are we supposed to do if Erasers show up?" he said. "It's not like we'll exactly be hidden or anything."_

_Max nodded. "That's true too… but we do need to find my mom, and Gazzy wants tosee Joshua; we can deal with the consequences later."_

_Iggy sighed out of frustration and angrily ate the rest of the cookie. "Get that stick out of you're a—"_

"_Fang!" Max yelled. Fang sighed, which caused her to sigh too._

"_We rest up tonight, and head out in the morning."_

**I try pretty hard to keep all of my characters 'in character' (I'm not sure what was going on with Iggy in this one, man period maybe?), but it's been an insanely long time since I read Maximum Ride. I think it's also important to note that I never read past 'Max', and have no intentions to. Because it's been such a long time since I've read them I still have a general idea of how the characters act, but if anyone has any comments or criticism don't be afraid to PM me and I'll make sure to make adjustments in future chapters.**

**This also follows the Trauma Team plotline. I know the years are different, but for this I'd rather just have Maximum Ride follow the Trauma Team plotline. **

**All of next week I have finals, but I have most of the next chapter done as it is. I will be updating sometime next week (probably around this time) and updates will become much more frequent now that summer is here.**

**~MyBlueBird**


	6. Chapter 6

_"Hey... Hank," Dr. Cunningham said, taking a cigarette out of his mouth and turning towards his good friend. They sat side by side on a bench outside the hospital facing the garden. The day was beautiful- the birds were chirping, butterflies and bees were perched on bloomed flowers, and the sky was clear. Yet the whole week had been like that, and this was the first time Gabe had really gone outside to appreciate it. _

_"Yes, Gabriel?"_

_"Is it true Valencia's up here again?"_

_Hank hesitated. "...Yes, she's here. If you'd go see Joshua you wouldn't have to ask."_

_"Knock it off," Gave said, putting the cigarette back in his mouth. "Have you seen her?" _

_He nodded. "I ran into her in the cafeteria a few days ago. She's staying in a hotel close by, but honestly I don't think she's left the hospital since coming here."_

_As the conversation Gabe began blowing rings with the smoke. "I guess that makes sense."_

_"If you want to see her," Hank began, saying what his friend wanted to hear but didn't want to admit. "You should come back out here around six. It's when Lisa comes and Valencia stays away."_

_"I'll have patients to see."_

_"Gabriel..."_

_"Look, Hank," he said and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "What happened in the past should stay in the past. She came here to comfort Joshua, not to see me. Let's leave it at that."_

_He flicked away some of the ashes and Hank sighed. "To be honest, Hank, she probably talks to you more than she does me. We talk maybe once or twice a year, usually on Christmas or her birthday... but I haven't seen her face to face in a good five years."_

_"Are you afraid to see her?"_

_"I guess you could say that."_

_Silence overwhelmed them and both men stared out at the garden. They saw various types of people enter the hospital; sick elders, frantic soon-to-be parents, teenagers, and some who exited the hospital to smoke._

_"...All I want to say, Gabriel, is that you shouldn't let this opportunity slip from you. If you want to talk to her you should. You'll have the time."_

_Slowly Gabe stood up and put his hands in his pockets. He had no intention to argue with his friend, for he knew he was right this time. _

_"Hn. I guess you're right, big guy." It evoked a small smile in Hank, and while Gabe walked back inside the building with his cigarette burnt out Hank hoped he would listen._

Even though there wasn't a single person I had told, I wasn't feeling any better being here in the hospital. Actually it was the opposite. The first day was the only day that I thought I was getting any better. My tummy didn't hurt then, though I'm pretty sure it was just because of all the medicine the doctors had put me on. It had only been a few days since the operation and I was supposed to go home in a few hours. But I was also supposed to be feeling a lot better. I felt worse. I decided that I should tell someone before I left, just to make sure I wouldn't have to come back. But I didn't want to worry anybody. 

"Miss Martinez?" I said.

"Yes, Joshua?" she said, looking up from her laptop. She told me earlier she was doing stuff for work.

"Are you sure the operation did anything?" I asked.

"Why, are you still in pain?" She said while closing her laptop. "You should be feeling better by now. Where does it hurt?"

"Where it hurt before the operation," I said. My breakfast was still on the table in front of me, and even smelling it was making me feel a little nauseous.

Miss Martinez stood up and pressed the button to call for my nurse. She came in soon, and when she did Miss Martinez started telling her everything I had said. She was a really nice nurse, I liked her. She had been looking after me since I first came in to the hospital. I didn't want her to think anything was wrong with me. But she looked just as concerned as Miss Martinez did. I didn't want her to think anything was wrong with me, but I didn't want to have to deal with the pain anymore. She looked just as concerned as Miss Martinez. I started to get really scared. What scared me the most last time was the thought that I wouldn't wake up. I didn't want to have to deal with that again. I already had one operation, why should I have to have another?

The nurse could tell I was starting to panic, but she wasn't helping much. 'It isn't normal for you to be in pain like that. Do you mind if I take a look?"

See, ever since I was really little I've had this problem that when I got really nervous I'd throw up. I was really nervous now, and I felt like I was going to puke, but I didn't. I tried to reassure myself by saying that this nurse knew what she was doing. And that if I worked with her I could get out of the hospital a lot faster. 

Instead of puking I started to cough. I'd been coughing a lot lately- especially before the operation- but before I was coughing up blood and now I wasn't. And even though I wasn't coughing up blood, the nurse seemed worried. Like really worried. She told me that my heart was beating faster than it should, and that that definitely wasn't normal. She also told me that I would have to meet with a new doctor, and that I'd see the diagnostician by the end of the afternoon.

Miss Martinez and the nurse started talking more and I zoned them out. I wished I hadn't coughed. I missed my friends, my room and my bed. I just wanted to go home. I was supposed to leave in a few hours, and now that seemed impossible.

The nurse left the room with a sense of urgency. The way she left didn't help to calm my nerves. Miss Martinez seemed a little on edge too- she didn't sit down in her chair and stayed close to the door, occasionally looking out the window of it. I was panicking pretty badly, and she noticed it when she looked back at me. She walked over to me and sat on the edge of my bed.

"What's going to happen to me…?" I asked. I sounded like I was going to cry, and it took everything in me not to.

She pulled me into a loose hug and started telling me everything would be okay. Then I really started crying. I held onto Miss Martinez tightly and she rubbed my back. I didn't want to but I kept on crying.

A few hours later (well, I don't think it was really _hours_, but it felt like it) I was sitting on a cold chair in an exam room. The hospital shorts I was in weren't very good at keeping me warm, but I tried not to complain. I was alone and that made me a little nervous- my mom wasn't here and Miss Martinez wasn't supposed to be with me because she wasn't my parent. I really wished I had a blanket with me.

It didn't take long for he doctor to come in and talk to me. I was a little scared with how similar we looked. His hair was as fluffy as mine and we had the same eyes. I was told earlier that we even had the same last name.

I wasn't stupid.

But I didn't want to think about that. This person was my doctor and he was going to make my stomach stop hurting. But a big part of me wanted to say I was fine. Miss Martinez had already taken a lot of time off work to stay in the hospital with me, and she'd been away from Ella for so long. And if something was really _really_ wrong with me, Mom would have to take off work. She wouldn't be very happy about that either. 

I didn't want anyone to worry about me.

Before Dr. Cunningham could say anything to me, I blurted out "Oh… Hello! You're a new doctor."

I wanted to hit myself over the head. I don't know why I thought it'd be smart to say what was super obvious. But I smiled at him anyways.

"Yeah. Hello, Joshua."

Instead of telling him how I felt, I tried my absolute best to lie. "Um, Doctor? I don't hurt at all."

For a while, it worked.


	7. Chapter 7

Dr. Cunningham gave me a strange look. "…? That can't be. I received a report from your nurse."

I tried my best to lie, but I don't think I sounded very believable. "That's weird… I'm alright, really…"

"Hm… Well, let's check you out. If I can't find anything, I'll let you go back to your room."

I nodded with a smile. "Uh huh… Okay. I'm sorry doctor!"

He did all kinds of tests on me. He examined my body, checked my heart and lungs with a stethoscope, and even took my blood. I didn't like needles all that much but I'd had my blood taken so many times lately I had taught myself not to think about it. He asked me questions about how I was feeling and whether or not I was eating. As I kept trying to tell him I was fine, I started to ramble. He looked really confused.

"Hm… That's odd. He really does seem to be fine…" he said to himself.

"Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with me."

"Well, alright. But just to be safe, let's finish examining you."

The next thing he did confused me a little bit, but he told me it was an EKG and would check to see if my heart was beating fine. As it turned out, my heart was okay. He looked me over again, to make sure he didn't miss anything I'm guessing. It looked like he was getting a little frustrated. He muttered something to himself before I coughed. I could start to taste blood. It scared me, but not enough to get me to say what was wrong.

"Oh… I-I'm sorry…! It's just a cough…!" I said, covering my mouth.

He started to question me again after that and I started rambling again. From what I could tell now, he wasn't going to let me go back to my room. And that meant that I probably wouldn't get to go home, and Miss Martinez would probably take off work longer. And worst of all I was making everyone worry. I felt terrible. I was giving myself a headache thinking about it.

When he started using the stethoscope again he started speaking to his computer and marking things down. I couldn't tell what he was marking- when I was paying attention he was using really big words that I'd never heard before. I held my shirt up with my hands trembling. I didn't think there was anything wrong with my lungs, so what could he be marking?

After I put my shirt down my nerves got the best of me and I started coughing pretty hard. I covered my mouth with my hand just in time- I could taste a lot of blood and it got onto my hand. I wiped it quickly away from my lips and tried to swallow.

Dr. Cunningham looked to me. "Hey, show me the hand you covered your mouth with, right now."

I panicked. "Huh…?! I-It's nothing…! C'mon…!"

He sighed and muttered something to himself. I was so distracted I forgot that there was blood on my hand. It didn't take him long to notice at all. He asked me to lift my shirt so he could listen to my lungs again, and I complied.

"Hey, kid, why're you trying to hide your symptoms from me?"

I kept panicking. "Huh…?! Wh-Why would you say that?"

"I know you coughed up blood earlier," he said, sounding pretty annoyed at me. "It's on your clothing."

"Oh…" I tried to think of a good response, but I was so afraid he'd tell my mom that I had lied that I tried telling another lie to cover the first. They told me I would feel better after I had that operation, so what went wrong? What if they couldn't fix me at all anymore? I was terrified. "I-It's just some blood! I'm full of the stuff! I'm fine!"

Dr. Cunningham kept mumbling to himself. I knew he didn't want to be in this situation either and all I was doing was causing problems for him. "…Well, we're done talk… I need you to undergo a few tests for me."

He made me get another x-ray. Even though they don't' take very long they made me nervous. I've always had a hard time staying still and I was afraid I'd move by accident. I didn't like the lead apron they put on me when I had it done, and I didn't like being alone in the room. I tried not to think about what they could find inside of me. What if they accidentally left something inside of my stomach during the operation?

When I went back to that exam room I had to sit by myself for a while. I started looking around the room, trying to distract myself. There wasn't a whole lot to look at, but I did see a little figurine on the doctor's desk. I had recognized it immediately as the main character from the show _the Steel Samurai_. It was one of my favorite shows when I was younger. Before I knew it Dr. Cunningham was back in the room, looking at me in a very stern way.

"I have proof that there's something wrong with your stomach," he said. "You ready to talk now?"

I wasn't, but I kind of had to.

After a few moments, I started talking. "…My tummy hurts once in a while, but that's it! And I don't feel like eating when it hurts. What's wrong with that? Everyone keeps making a fuss about it, but it's nothing! Really! Doctor, I'm okay. Seriously!"

He kept marking things down on his computer. "Alright… now is there anything else you're hiding? This is your chance…"

"I-I'm not hiding anything! I really am okay," I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

He sighed again and left the room with the computer he called RONI. I was alone again. I just wanted _someone_ in the room with me. I wanted Miss Martinez to come in and sit with me and tell me everything would be okay. I wanted my mom to actually be at the hospital. I hated being in that cold exam room all by myself. As my mind began to wander I started to wonder if something was going to happen to that feather. I had left it in the room I was staying in. I hoped that no one threw it away by accident. I didn't think I'd ever see Gazzy again and I wanted to keep that feather safe. I wanted it to be with me.

"You're having a relapse of gastric ulcers… which I'm guessing hurts. A lot." I had hardly even noticed him come into the room. "Why do you keep trying to hide your symptoms from me?"

"Th-There's nothing wrong with me… I really didn't notice it."

He got a lot angrier pretty fast.

"Just stop it! There's no way you're all right!"

"Urgh…"

"Now listen to me. I don't know why you're pretended to be fine, and I don't care why! But the more you keep this up, the more you make everyone around you worry about you!"

I tried to speak. My throat was closing up like I was going to cry. "…But..!"

"Whoa, there's no need to explain. If you don't want to talk about it, then that's _fine_. I've gotten permission from Lisa—I mean your mother—already. RONI, get the examinations ready. If he's not going to talk, then I'll do it myself."

We didn't say anything while he guided me to take more tests. It took everything in me not to start crying in front of him. I didn't want people to worry about me and I was just making everything worse. I had made Dr. Cunningham really mad at me and all he was trying to do was help me feel better. I felt so selfish. I hated the feeling and I wanted to apologize, but before I could he left me alone in the exam room. I couldn't help but cry once he was gone, and I pulled my legs to my chest and held them close to me as I cried.

Why did all of this have to happen?

I calmed myself down the best way that I could. I needed to go to the bathroom, but I didn't want to get lost trying to find my way to one. I got up anyway and found a bathroom just around the corner of the hallway, and I hurried there with my head down.

When I saw myself in the mirror I noticed my eyes were really red and puffy. The cold water I was splashing on my face didn't' do a whole lot. When I saw that the bathroom didn't have any paper towels, only air dryers, I almost started crying again out of frustration. I ended up using my shirt to dry my face—I was given a new one shortly after I got blood on the other.

Before I left I stared at my face one last time. I really did look just like Dr. Cunningham—I even had his nose. But I didn't want to think about that. Especially after what just happened. While I was walking back to the exam room I heard Miss Martinez hurry down the hall towards me. I sniffed and put on a fake smile, but like always she saw right through me. I could tell she knew I had been crying and she wrapped her arms around me for a few second before leaning over to look me in the eyes. "What's wrong, why were you crying Joshua…?"

I wiped any remaining tears off my face. I couldn't look her in the eye, and with my head down I quietly said "I-I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for…?" she said softly.

"I didn't want anyone to worry about me, so I lied…"

She wrapped her arms around me again and I clung to her. "I would've worried anyway; have you been lying to your doctor? We all just want to see you healthy and smiling again, and that won't happen if you don't tell him the truth." She gave me a little squeeze, and I nodded my head just a little to show I understood.

"U-Um… will you please stay with me? I don't want to be alone anymore…"

She nodded and let go of me but grabbed a hold of my hand. "Of course I'll stay with you. Let's get back to the exam room, okay?" Her smile was kind and I felt comforted by it. I showed her the way back to the room I was supposed to be in and I sat down in my seat—she took the doctor's chair and moved so she could still hold onto my hand.

Dr. Cunningham walked back into the room a few minutes after we did. I couldn't look up at him and I held onto Miss Martinez's hand more tightly. He stayed really quiet and was looking at Miss Martinez; neither of them looked very happy. After a few awkward seconds later he cleared his throat, looked at me, and said "Well, I may have been a bit harsh earlier… But you also—"

"Doctor Cunningham…" Miss Martinez said, almost in a threatening way. He gave her a small glare.

"… Anyways, I want to cure you completely. And… Everyone's worried about you."

"E-Ehh…"

"Joshua, will you please cooperate with the exams?"

"…Sorry."

"Huh…?"

I closed my eyes and tried to stop the oncoming tears. "…I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!"

Miss Martinez started rubbing my back and the doctor turned to me and said "Hey, hey…! I-It's alright… Don't cry…!"

It was like I was a nuisance even being there.

I sniffed. "B-But… It's all my fault…! I… I didn't want my Mom, or Miss Martinez, or that nurse to worry about me…"

"Joshua…" he said, much softer than before.

"…I'm really sorry. I just made everyone worry even more. I… I won't hide anything anymore. I want to get out of this hospital! So… please!"

"…Yeah, I understand."

"Um… Actually, my tummy feels a little weird. Can you check it out, Doctor?"

"Of course, leave it to me!" He smiled at me, and I felt better now that I had told the truth. Miss Martinez was smiling like she was proud I told the truth and apologized. I was glad to see her smiling at me, but at the same time I was a little confused. It was like she was completely ignoring Dr. Cunningham. It was pretty awkward and strange. I couldn't bring it up because Dr. Cunningham was examining me—I kept apologizing and told him how my back had been hurting too. I felt really sick, like I could throw up any minute, and I let him know. He took more of my blood and had me get new pictures taken, but it was alright because Miss Martinez was always at my side.

She was trying to cheer me up the whole time, too. She told me funny stories about some of the animals she'd seen come into her office and they made me laugh. She told me a lot about Ella too, and how she thought it would be nice if I could visit her in Arizona. I would have loved to but I didn't think my mom would ever let me go. When we started running out of things to talk about, I brought up the feather.

"Miss Martinez? Is my feather going to be safe in the other room? No one's going to throw it away by accident, right?"

She opened up her handbag that was sitting on the floor and she took out the feather in perfect condition. I smiled brightly and took the feather, being very careful not to damage it. "You really like that feather, don't you?"

I nodded. "I've just never seen anything like it before, and it's so beautiful…"

"Aren't you afraid that carrying it around will damage it?"

"…Well, I guess a little bit… but I won't let anything happen to it! And besides, it would get all dusty sitting on my table at home."

She smiled. "I think I might know who you got that feather from."

I perked up even more, but I was a bit confused. "Really…? They did say they had friends in Arizona, but I never would have guessed you knew them…!"

She laughed a little bit. "When I see them again I'll be sure to tell them you said hello."

"Really? I don't think I'll ever get to see them again, and I really thought that he and I could be friends…" I trailed off and looked at the feather.

My attention was pulled away from it when a nurse I'd never seen before knocked on the door and walked in. "I'm looking for a Miss Valencia Martinez…?"

"That would be me."

"There are some children looking for you, they're waiting in the courtyard."

Miss Martinez nodded and stood up. "I'll be right back; will you be okay by yourself Joshua?"

I nodded and gave her a smile. "I'll be okay."

"_These flowers are supper pretty!" Nudge exclaimed. "Do you know what they're called, Max?"_

"_I have absolutely no idea. But they are pretty."_

"_You probably shouldn't be touching them Nudge," Fang said. _

"_But they're beautiful! And there's so many butterflies around them!"_

"_I'm sure they're _gorgeous._"_

"_Iggy, I'm getting really tired of your attitude; _shut your mouth._"_

_Before Iggy could respond the Flock noticed the front door open and Dr. Martinez hurry towards them. "Mom!" Max shouted and ran up to her before embracing her. The other girls and Gazzy followed, though Fang stayed behind and attempted to calm Iggy. _

"_You all got here fast," Dr. Martinez said, letting go of them with a soft smile._

"_We really haven't slept much since leaving your house," Angel said truthfully. _

"_I have a hotel room about a half a block away, how about you get some sleep there?"_

"_That actually sounds pretty great," Fang said. _

"_Will there be enough room for all of us?" Nudge said. "I mean if you got the room for just you there's probably only one bed, and I mean all together there'll be seven of us so—"_

"_I don't think I'll be staying there tonight, actually. And there's a queen bed with a pull out couch and a reclining chair, so I'm sure you'll be able to fit. I have the room key inside my purse…" she said, rummaging around through her bag and handing it to Max once she found it. _

"_So you're staying with Joshua tonight…?" Gazzy asked. She nodded and lowered herself to his eye level. _

"_He's not doing too well, and I don't want him to be alone." Gazzy kept his mouth shut and was lost in his thoughts. _Actual_ hospitals were supposed to cure people, right? If that were the case then he should be getting better, not worse. "You know…"_

"_What…?"_

"_He's been clinging onto a feather that looks an awful lot like yours since I met up with him."_

"_He still has that thing?" Iggy asked. _

"_He's completely mesmerized by it," she said. "He's kept it in perfect condition."_

_Gazzy looked at the ground, nodding slightly. While he didn't want to leave so suddenly in the first place, it never occurred to him that Joshua would care enough to keep his feather safe. Not that Joshua knew it was even his feather or where it came from. "But… why? I mean, we hardly know each other…" His eyebrows furrowed together and he kept his head down. As much as he wanted to be Joshua's friend he didn't think it would be possible because of their completely different lifestyles. He suddenly felt guilty for wanting to see him again because he didn't want to mess with his feelings._

"…_I think it would really mean a lot to him if you came in to visit, but I don't want you to feel like you have to." _

_He nodded slightly. "You won't leave… right? …And there aren't any Erasers hiding in there?" _

_She nodded. "I promise. But there'll be a lot of doctors and nurses; they won't lay a hand on you. There's nothing to worry about." As Gazzy looked up at her she smiled softly and extended her hand to offer support. He took it with a trembling hand. _

_As they walked inside the hospital Gazzy held her hand more tightly and walked closer to her side. The god-awful smell was impossible to ignore and he could already feel pangs of nausea hitting him. His pained expression caused some of the nurses to glance at him, wondering if he was alright. He looked away, trying to avoid their gazes. "We're almost there," she whispered. After turning down another hallway she knocked on the closest door before opening it and walking in the room first. Joshua gasped and smiled brightly at seeing his friend, and for a moment he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him._

"_Gazzy~!"_


End file.
